News of: Thursday, 17th of May, 2012

Front Page

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 32 other high-profile opposition leaders ended up in jail after a Dhaka court yesterday rejected their bail prayers in connection with an arson case.

The BNP, which had been threatening to launch tough anti-government movements, suddenly finds itself in deep trouble as a record number of senior leaders of the party and its associated bodies have been put behind bars in an arson case.

Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur have agreed on state arrangements for recruitment of Bangladeshi workers by Malaysia eliminating middlemen from the process to reduce the cost of sending workers and end their perennial abuses.

Suranjit Sengupta announced his “return” to politics yesterday, a month after he resigned as railway minister taking full responsibility for the Tk 70 lakh scandal that involved his aide and two railway officials.

A Rajshahi court yesterday handed down death sentences to two former leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) unit at Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute for murdering Chhatra Moitree leader Rezwanul Islam Sunny two years ago.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan yesterday identified himself as a transport worker rather than a minister and said he has to face a lot of criticism for favouring drivers who alone are not responsible for road accidents.

Prevention of adolescent marriages and pregnancies at a young age and encouraging mothers to deliver babies at maternity care facilities can help reduce the maternal mortality rate in the country, speakers at a discussion in the city said yesterday.

Top officials of the shipping ministry yesterday staged an inquisitive day-long drama of demolishing two jetties of Shah Cement factory, built encroaching on river Shitalakkhya but the eviction team suspended its drive in the evening without doing anything.

The High Court yesterday ordered the cabinet secretary to set up a high-powered committee to investigate the allegation of grabbing land of Govt Bangla College against Awami League lawmaker Aslamul Haque.

Prof Anisuzzaman, who had testified against BNP lawmaker and war crimes accused Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, was cross-examined at the International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday for four and a half hours.

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 yesterday fixed May 28 to decide whether it would indict Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the Liberation War.

Police in northern India are probing alleged fraud in the construction of giant sculptures of elephants and low-caste political heroes that were the $1.2-billion pet projects of former leader Mayawati.

The non-govt primary school teachers agitating over the demand for nationalisation of their services were lathi-charged on Tuesday by the police. Quite brutally, we must say, as the news photos illustrated. As if that was not enough, hot water was doused on them in this sultry summer at one stage to disrupt their gathering or processions. As a result, a head teacher, Azizur Rahman from Jamalpur, died and several teachers were injured including some senior members of the profession. What signal do we put across by such ham-handed treatment of teachers?

Sports

Sheikh Russel KC extended their winning streak in the Grameenphone Bangladesh Premier League to four matches by posting a 3-2 win over minnows Rahmatganj MFS at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

There is a very slim chance the Tigers' training camp will get underway as per schedule after the stalemate regarding the resumption of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket Super League ended on Tuesday.

Bangladesh Hockey Federation is all set to introduce women's hockey from Friday at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium, following instructions from International Hockey Federation and Asian Hockey Federation. Four schools and two district teams, split into two groups, are taking part in the UBC Development Cup First Women's Hockey even though there was women's hockey played in the country from 1977 to 1983 under the Bangladesh Women's Sports Association.

Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (Citycell) has renewed its alliance with domestic basketball by assuring to sponsor the 1st division, premier league and school basketball tournament this year apart from running a training camp for the basketball players.

U.S. President Barack Obama poked fun at one of sport's biggest stars at the White House on Tuesday, remarking that British soccer player David Beckham had a knack for combining athletic prowess with commercial appeal.

Everton's Australian attacking midfielder Tim Cahill launched a broadside at Newcastle's French international Yohan Cabaye after accepting a three-match ban for his red card in his side's 3-1 victory last Sunday.

Kolkata Knight Riders played three spinners for the first time in this year's IPL against Mumbai Indians last night and the decision paid rich dividends as the visitors successfully defended a paltry total of 140.

A group of retail investors yesterday staged demonstrations at the High Court as it opened a hearing on writ petitions filed by directors of several listed companies against mandatory shareholding rules.

The government is likely to finalise the import policy for 2012-15 restricting imports of scrap, old computers and other office equipment to prevent environmental hazards, Commerce Secretary Ghulam Hossain said yesterday.

India's rupee hit a record low against the dollar Wednesday and stocks fell nearly two percent as uncertainty over the eurozone debt crisis and weak domestic indicators hit Asia's third-largest economy.

Facebook Inc increased the size of its initial public offering by almost 25 percent, and could raise as much as $16 billion as strong investor demand for a share of the No.1 social network trumps debate about its long-term potential to make money.

Polls to some 1,600 posts reserved for women in the upazila parishads may be held anytime this year, completing formation of the local government bodies more than three years after the system was restored.

The draft of Foreign Donation (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act, 2012 prepared to oversee foreign donations of NGOs was presented at a meeting at NGO Affairs Bureau office in the capital yesterday.

Now 12 more children in every 1,000 live births are able to celebrate their fifth birthday while nine more infants per 1,000 live births make it to their first year, said noted child health expert Prof MQK Talukder yesterday.

With the government contemplating more budgetary outlay for expansion of social safety net programmes (SSNP), a research initiative was formally launched yesterday to find out the best modality to transfer assistance under such projects.

A parliamentary standing committee yesterday asked the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Affairs Ministry to take measures so that hill people get interest to engage in the country's mainstream politics instead of local and regional politics.

The High Court yesterday summoned journalist Shafik Rehman to appear before it on May 22 for receiving a plot on the proposed 60-feet-wide road under Begunbari-Hatirjheel project in the capital “illegally and improperly.”

Journalists besieged Dhanmondi Police Station for an hour yesterday, demanding removal of its officer-in-charge for baton-charging newsmen and firing gunshots when they were protesting the death of Bibhas Chandra Saha in the capital on May 11.

National

Contractors of Water Development Board have continued extracting sand from the Tangon River within 50 metres of two important bridges over the river in Thakurgaon despite objection from Roads and Highways Department (RHD).

Hundreds of depositors besieged the regional office of Sandhani Life Insurance Company at Aampatti in the district town yesterday afternoon in protest against alleged cheating by an official of the company.

Two people were killed and another was injured by lightning at Murapara village in Chokoria upazila yesterday morning. The deceased are Solim Ullah, 45, and his wife Rashida Begum, 37. The injured, Saima Akhter, 19, wife of Mohammad Hossain of the area, was admitted to the upazila health complex.

Police recovered the body of a teenage girl from Chinishpur area in Sadar upazila yesterday. The victim, Shrabonti Roy Jui, 18, daughter of late Poritosh Roy of Palash upazila, was an HSC first year student. Locals found the body beside rail tracks and informed the railway police who recovered the body and sent it to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.

At least six shops were gutted in a fire at Baira Bazar in Singair upazila on Tuesday night. On information, a fire fighting unit from Manikganj Fire Service and Civil Defence Station rushed to the spot and doused the blaze after two hours of frantic efforts. The affected shop owners claimed that the loss caused by the fire could go up to Tk 50 lakh.

A mobile court here on Tuesday sentenced a young man to one year's imprisonment for stalking a college girl. The convict is Abdul Aziz, 30, son of Nafizuddin of Kaliakoir village in Singair upazila. Police said Aziz used to tease the girl for long on her way to college. On information, locals caught the stalker and handed him over to the police. Later, he was produced before the court led by UNO Mostafa Kamal who handed down the verdict.

Syrian forces were accused of having executed 15 civilians yesterday, as the office of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said UN observers were evacuated from a tense town a day after a blast hit their convoy.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee yesterday said the government would resort to a fresh spell of austerity measures to deal with the difficult economic situation, but made it clear that he was not pressing the “panic button”.

Better care has cut the number of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth by nearly half in the past two decades, but there is still a death every two minutes, according to UN figures released yesterday.

An all-out army offensive against al-Qaeda in south Yemen raged into a fifth straight day yesterday with battles around the restive town of Loder leaving another 13 people dead, most of them jihadists, sources said.

Moscow authorities broke up a week-long Occupy protest yesterday that sprung up in response to President Vladimir Putin's inauguration, warning they would prevent similar actions during his third term.

Arts & Entertainment

Interior Depot, a newly opened lifestyle gallery in Gulshan, Dhaka, houses one of the most diverse collections of artworks. Khan Rezaul Hoq aka Bulbul runs the gallery. He said, “The gallery itself is less than a year old. The gallery exhibits a changing selection of paintings, antique furniture, ceramics, crystals and sculptures by major artists and artisans. Though most of the paintings and sculptures belong to local artists, the rest of the pieces (different periods) have been collected from several continents.”

Marking the 130th birth anniversary (May 10) of the initiator of Bratachari Movement, Gurusaday Dutt, a five-daylong Bratachari Workshop is on at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA). Bratachari, Bangladesh in association with BSA is organising the workshop.

Over the years, Alkap songs have gained much popularity among the rich sub-genres of Bengali folk music. Around 50 or 60 years ago the genre was developed by both Hindus and Muslims of the country. Alkap song is the folk heritage of northern parts -- Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi and Natore -- of Bangladesh. The people of this region are closely acquainted with this tradition that is a great source of amusement for them.

Wadjda, the first-ever film shot in Saudi Arabia, hits the Cannes market as The Match Factory begins pre-sales at Cannes' Marche du Film on the coming-of-age drama from Haiffa al Mansour, the first female Saudi filmmaker.

OP-ED

About the "wonder building" I shall talk about later since that is the focus of this piece. But first about the Wonderland -- the children's park in Gulshan, that has been recently demolished by Rajuk. And Rajuk was following the instructions of the High Court in letter and spirit.

Readers going through the cache of letters that were released early this month from Osama bin Laden's hideaway in Abbottabad, Pakistan, may have been taken aback by a reference -- in the midst of discussions of tactics, regional politics and exchange rates for ransom money -- to poetry.

Myanmar's President Thein Sein is in the final throes of overhauling his government which may even see the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi become a parliamentary speaker. The immediate catalyst for the changes is the resignation of Vice-President Tin Aung Myint Oo last week for health reasons.

Post Fukushima, every one is concerned about nuclear accidents. It added a new dimension. Rightly or wrongly more people characterise nuclear power plants as terribly unsafe. Similar perceptions prevailed over fifty years ago when governments attempted to commercialise nuclear power.

Science as a contact sport; inside the battle to save Earth's climate by Stephen Schneider is an illuminating book by a world renowned climate scientist and professor at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. In 2007, Schneider received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), along with Al Gore. His book is a recounting of his efforts over three decades to get the US government and the rest of the world to pay attention to climate change science.

Ctg Edition

A case was lodged yesterday against 17 leaders and activists of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in connection with the seizure of bomb-making materials from the party's Chittagong office the day before.